Manual Climate to EATC?

[Irish Pride]

What does it take to swap from manual climate controls to an EATC? I already know i'll need the EATC and a different dash panel but what else do i need to piece together?

This is going in an 89 if that makes any difference.

 

[rubydist]

you need to change the blend door actuator from manual to automatic. you need the wiring to connect all of that - which includes a sun load sensor and outside temp sensor tie-in. there is also a cabin temp sensor that you need.

its actually fairly complicated. you can look at rangerpowersports.com and see what is involved in doing that conversion on a Ranger to get an idea of what all is involved.

 

[Irish Pride]

i didnt think about all the temp sensors. it probably isnt worth all the effort. oh well, its not like it would have been a deal breaker anyway.

 

[notbange]

Come steal parts off my 89 if you so desire, it has eatc

 

[Irish Pride]

Come steal parts off my 89 if you so desire, it has eatc

Well why didnt you say so earlier Sam! I just might do that. It would be nice to see how everything is routed too.

 

[notbange]

It will eventually end up crushed so might as well, I have no interest in 89 eatc myself. The dash trim is good I believe, the eatc head unit temp down button doesn't quite work so you would probably need to find a better one.

 

[RonPorter]

Eh, always preferred the manual '89 setup myself in two of the three '89s I've had. Red car has the EATC.....underwhelmed.

 

[SHOtime2511]

Keep that manual BDA.

 

[Irish Pride]

I cant stand the manual one. I cant ever get comfortable and i'm always having to adjust it. With the EATC i can set it and forget it.

 

[sperold]

When all is well, the EATC is a beautiful thing.
But with 2 trouble-prone components like the Blend door actuator and the blower control module, the system becomes problematic as time goes on.
That whole climate plenum in the SHOs is a study in how NOT to do things. If that was the best that could be done, they could have at least put the dash on hinges (lol), and left enough wiring and cables to allow it to happen.

 

[SHOtimer]

That whole climate plenum in the SHOs is a study in how NOT to do things. If that was the best that could be done, they could have at least put the dash on hinges (lol), and left enough wiring and cables to allow it to happen.

I wouldn't agree with that. The SHO climate control system isn't that different from what is in other cars.

My SHO had approx 220k before the EATC had a single problem, replaced the BDA, and did the original heater core while I was in there so I wouldn't have to go in there again.

My buddy has a '02 Yukon, cost him over 2k to fix a BDA problem in that thing....i'd take the SHO EATC anyday.

Doug

 

[sperold]

Call me crazy, but I would have thought that relocating the unit to the botton of the plenum or having a removable section above the unit in the current location would not have been beyond the design capabilities of the engineering staff at Ford. But maybe it is.
I don't really think that disconnecting your AC system to replace a heater core is good engineering.
Take your SHO into the dealership and see how much your blend door replacement costs, you will find the Yukon and the SHO have a lot in common after-all.

 

[notbange]

Not uncommon at all, had to remove the entire dash in a early 2000s grand Cherokee last week at work for a heater core.

 

[sperold]

And then, there were the 60's full size Fords. The heater core slid out into the engine compartment like a drawer in a filing cabinet. Whole job took 10 minutes.
That was before the days where outside manufacturers "package" components into modular units. That helps the manufacturer make more profit, but it did not do much for the repair business.

 

[SHOtimer]

Really? My '68 F-250, I had to pull the whole plenum out of the dash and disassemble it in order to get at the tiny heater core.

I don't see why you hate the SHO EATC so much, it gets the job done well. Nothing is perfect. Things break and you fix them. That's life.

Doug